Worldwide Ligaments in the Body of Christ

Reagan-era House Speaker Tip O’Neil used to observe, “all politics is local”—meaning that people inevitably care more about what’s near and personally relevant than about what’s going on in the rest of the nation or the world at large. This is normal and its true in God’s church too. “Good news” from around the world is a welcome thing, but not something, as disciples of Christ, we think about all that much as we live our daily lives in Seattle, Washington.

Having said that, it’s important for us here in the hub of the universe (oh, you have a hub too? Cool!) to spend some of our time relishing the fact that we really do have a worldwide family of churches—over 500, with over 80,000 Christians. What’s happening in those places can inspire us and support us. This winter has been a wonderful and poignant reminder for me.

The day after our congregation commended the Wallaces, the Brumleys, the Tachers, and the Greens as Elders & Wives, Lynne and I took off for Hong Kong and China. We had a terrific time reconnecting with Hong Kong leaders—Steve and Jane Chin, Turner and Elizabeth Sinn, Dan and Elexa Liu and many others, then flew to Mainland China where we conducted our first-ever marriage retreat for one of our most prominent underground churches. These disciples live a most inconvenient Christian life, but their convictions call us higher. Here’s a brief clip, a hodge-podge of Hong Kong and China!

In addition, last week, Ron and Linda travelled to Miami to join the ICOC Elders Committee—a group devoted to promoting elderships around the world and to responding to shepherding needs in our churches as they arise.

This weekend, most of our staff travels to Ashland Oregon where we will convene with other Northwest church leaderships at our semi-annual summit. Please pray for us to be closer than ever as a family and for us to find ways to collaborate to speed the missions and maturity of the Northwest. Yours truly has the honor of preaching to the wonderful Rogue Valley congregation on Sunday.

In March, the Greens and Whitakers journey to Germany. There we will continue the “coaching” work the Berlin congregation has asked us to do through 2012. This means the Greens being in Berlin for at least two weekends a year, and one longer stretch of 3 weeks (this coming summer). Berlin is a church currently without full time leadership, but they are eager to learn, grow, and experiment! Say a prayer or two for us, the Kohas (from Boston) and the Herbsts (Zurich) as we collaborate to serve this exciting congregation.

As the world turns…

Scott Green, Elder & Senior Minister